On May 31, 1916, the Battle of Verdun passed the 100-day mark. It would continue for another 200 days, amassing a casualty list of an estimated 800,000 soldiers dead, injured or missing.

Former presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. John Edwards arrives at federal court in Greensboro, N.C., on April 24, 2012. Edwards was acquitted on charges of taking illegal campaign contributions on this day in 2012. File Photo by Nell Redmond/UPI | License Photo

Jean Stapleton arrives the Wilshire Theatre on December 1, 1998, for the preview performance of "The Gin Game" starring Julie Harris and Charles Durning. Stapleton died on this day in 2013. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

On this date in history:

In 1790, President George Washington signed a bill creating the first U.S. copyright law.

In 1889, a flood in Johnstown, Pa., left more than 2,200 people dead.

In 1902, Britain and South Africa signed a peace treaty ending the Boer War.

In 1916, the Battle of Verdun passed the 100-day mark. It would continue for another 200 days, amassing a casualty list of an estimated 800,000 soldiers dead, injured or missing.

In 1985, seven federally insured banks in Arkansas, Minnesota, Nebraska and Oregon were closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It was a single-day record for closings since the FDIC was founded in 1934.

In 2003, Eric Robert Rudolph, the long-sought fugitive in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing and attacks on abortion clinics and a gay nightclub, was arrested while rummaging through a dumpster in North Carolina. Rudolph, whose bombings killed two people and injured many others, was sentenced to four life terms in prison.

In 2013, actress Jean Stapleton, known to millions of viewers as Edith Bunker in the hit 1970s sitcom All in the Family, died at age 90 in New York City.

In 2014, U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 28, captured in Afghanistan nearly five years earlier, was released by the Taliban in exchange for five detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. In March 2015, the Army announced that Bergdahl had been charged with desertion.

In 2017, CNN fired comedian Kathy Griffin from her longtime co-hosting gig in the network's New Year's Eve coverage after she taking part in a photo shoot in which she holds up a bloody, decapitated head resembling President Donald Trump.